Temple Sholom Expands Nursery School Curriculum this School Year

The Selma Maisel Nursery School at Temple Sholom in Greenwich, is expanding its preschool curriculum to include more science, cooking, and interactive theater classes.

Temple Sholom’s Selma Maisel Nursey School has revamped its after-school programming this fall, adding to the curriculum the Mad Science course in which students complete an array of science projects and experiments on topics ranging from anatomy to space. The course complements the nursery school’s marquee Discovery Room, an interactive science room filled with live animals in which children can learn about habitat, geography, and the five senses with guidance from wildlife educators from the Stamford Museum and Nature Center, with whom the school has a special partnership.

The cooking program has also been revamped. Children learn about healthy food and peer cooperation while they “cook through the alphabet,” says Phyllis Lyons, the director of the nursery school. A new variation of interactive theater class begins this school year, in which children learn classic stories, enhanced with props, crafts, and cooking activities. The nursery school continues to offers ballet, gym, sports school, and Spanish club. 

Temple Sholom’s goal is for “every child to be happy, confident about themselves, and have a quest for learning,” Lyons says. The staff teaches to Jewish values, but the nursery is open to all denominations. “Along with teaching them Jewish values, we’re helping them grow socially, emotionally, academically and physically,” Lyons adds.

Afterschool enrollment for 3- and 4-year olds is now open for the 2016-2017 school year, and tours are available for parents interested in the school.

Main photo: Children interact with live animals in the Discovery Room.